Martin MacBlain

Football provides escapism while uniting us in euphoria. It can also unite us in grief June 14, 2021 - I had started penning this article a week ago, with the title - a gentle escapism from the harsh reality of life... Events in the Denmark game have swiftly rendered that title meaningless. Permit me to express my thoughts prior to the Denmark game. There was a lad I used to… ...
What if… Big Bad Bob had done things just a little bit differently February 9, 2021 - “And the Freedom of the City, is awarded to Mr Robert Chase.” Humour me. Inspired by the wonderfully evocative (provocative?), Mr Sadler’s article on Robert Chase, I felt driven to write an ‘alternate view’ on what might just have happened, had the purse strings been loosened in those balmy days… ...
“Where were you, where were you, where were you when we were great…?” October 30, 2020 - I’m actually asking this as a genuine question rather than attempting to ignite our readers into a chanting frenzy. The Second Coming by Kevin Baldwin. If you haven’t read it, do so. A fantastic read, well written, and a lovely match-by-match insight into the return of Mike Walker. I’m on… ...
As the saying goes… ‘Time for some new heroes’ August 28, 2020 - ‘Sorry, but I must have missed your tenure as England manager.’ Indubitably, the Rodent’s most infamous quote. Yet it was a rather different quote of his that struck me. It’s relevance still resonates today. ‘The only difference is that it won’t be in a Norwich shirt, but I’ve had a… ...
So, we’ve already had a few ins, but who’s on their way out of Carrow Road? August 5, 2020 - "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." - Albert Einstein. Well that quote now feels rather apt. I’ve kept my powder deliberately dry over the re-start, but having watched the same smorgasbord being served up game after game I decided on the theme for… ...
Tempus Fugit – But there are worse things than sharing a birthday with Norwich City June 17, 2020 - As I sit and pen this on the eve of my 40th birthday, a multitude of emotions are swirling around my inner conscience. Do I feel that old? Am I now in mid-life? Is the inevitable getting closer. It really is a whirlwind. The reality, if you remove numbers, is… ...
Thatcher and our Delia may be poles apart politically, but they’ll agree on one thing… May 13, 2020 - The lady’s not for turning Readers of a certain vintage will absorb that phrase and either shudder or raise a wistful smile. It depends on your politics. For those unaware of the phrase, it relates to Thatcher’s refusal in 1980 to make a u-turn on her economic policy, despite rising… ...
Not the greatest, not even the best, but let’s be having your ‘favourite’ Norwich City XI April 17, 2020 - They locked us down. A scenario I never thought I’d see, certainly in my lifetime. As I sit and pen this article I find myself gazing out over the Severn Estuary and count myself very fortunate to live where I do. We live in Portishead and have a 180-degree panoramic… ...
Who remembers their very first game? The buzz of the crowd & ‘the thrill of the grass’ April 9, 2020 - ‘The thrill of the grass’. Now if anyone can guess the literary reference; book and author - sans google - I’ll be mightily impressed. In these dystopian days of social distancing and self-isolation, terms I had never heard until a few weeks ago, I’ve been trying to think of a few articles… ...
What’s in a season? And what was your favourite ever Norwich City campaign? March 26, 2020 - Do you remember that scene in the Matrix, where Neo becomes ‘self-aware’...? For my football awakening, that was the summer of 1993. Sure, I liked football, used to have a kick around, emulated Gazza, Platt and Lineker during Italia ‘90, but I didn’t have a team. So my Norwich FC… ...

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